


Finders Keepers

by johnny cade (johnnycake)



Series: Switchblades and Leather [30]
Category: The Outsiders (1983), The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: Abuse, CPTSD, Gen, PTSD, Violence, implied rape, so be careful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-24 16:33:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15634503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/johnnycake/pseuds/johnny%20cade
Summary: The gang finds Johnny in a back alley all beat up, but they decide this time to get revenge.





	Finders Keepers

**Author's Note:**

> i know this is similar to in a back alley, but i got this as a request and wanted to make it it’s own fic rather than adding onto another one, also i meant to post this yesterday, but i got sick so rip ;-;

At first, no one even knew or noticed that anything was wrong or out of place.

Everyone was over at the Curtis place that evening. The plan was to have dinner and then go to a late movie at the drive-in. They’d have to sneak in through the hole in the fence, since the later movies were always for adults. Kids could go, there was no real law against it, but unless someone new was working at the ticket counter, the employees at the theater wouldn’t allow anyone under eighteen into the drive-in. Dally always complained loudly about this, especially since technically they could go in. However, the establishment was run according to whoever owned the drive-in and if the owner decided kids couldn’t go to the later movies, they couldn’t go. So they’d have to sneak in.

They were about halfway through with making dinner when Two-Bit looked up from what he was doing, looked around the room and said, clearly trying not to sound alarmed, “Where’s Johnny?”

The entire room seemed to go silent all at once, so quiet you could hear a pin drop as everyone looked up from what they were doing to search the room as Two-Bit had, all of them feeling more than a little guilty for not noticing until now that Johnny was missing. Once they all realized, he wasn’t there, they all seemed to stand at once too. Darry turned off the stove, put down the rag hanging over his shoulder. Steve and Two-Bit set down their beer bottles and pulled on their leather jackets. Ponyboy looked slightly frantic and Dally did too, his hands clenching into fists as he walked out the door. Darry said, “C’mon. We better go look for him.”

They all knew there was a good chance he was at the lot or on his way back from picking up some cigarettes in town, but they also all knew that was very unlikely. Especially at this time of night. Johnny didn’t go anywhere by himself. Not anymore. Not after he’d gotten jumped by the Socs a few months ago. And if he did, it was during the day, when everyone could see what was going on and the Socs wouldn’t dare pick on him.

Dallas had glanced at the clock as he’d walked out of the Curtis’s house and practically run down the street to the vacant lot. The clock had said it was almost ten at night and, as he reached the lot, finding it dark and empty, he realized with horror that he hadn’t seen Johnny since noon when they’d been in town together. He’d left. Johnny had said he’d be back soon. Then Dally had gone over to the Curtis’s house and forgotten all about it.

The guilt as he remembered this consumed him and his heart pounded fast and hard in his chest, his clenched fists shaking as sweat beaded on his upper lip and he breathed quickly.

Where was Johnny? What had happened to him in the ten hours since he’d seen him?

And most importantly, why hadn’t he noticed he was missing before?

Dally ran back to the Curtis’s house before the rest of the gang had even gotten down the street and said, his voice breathless with panic, “He ain’t at the lot.”

He watched as Darry swore and Soda and Ponyboy blanched. Steve and Two-Bit looked at each other and he knew they were all thinking the same thing: if he wasn’t at the lot, where was he? And if he were somewhere else, why hadn’t he come home by now? And if he hadn’t come home by now...maybe something had happened to him to make it so he _couldn’t_ come home?

“Get in the truck,” Darry said, going back towards the house and the car parked out front. “We’ll go into town and find him and if he ain’t there...” He trailed off, swallowing hard. No one wanted to think about what might have happened if they couldn’t find Johnny in town.

Dallas didn’t want to think about what might have happened if they _did_ find Johnny in town.

They all climbed into Darry’s truck. Dally riding shotgun with Soda, Ponyboy, and Steve squeezed into the back. Two-Bit rode in the truck bed alone. Every time Dally turned in his seat to check out the back window how he was doing, he saw him drinking. How long could one bottle of beer last? Or had he brought more than one?

Dally wished he had his own bottle of beer right about now. Maybe two or more.

They drove into town slowly, looking every which way as they did, wishing they all had flashlights to shine around into the darkest shadows they passed. When they got into town, Darry slowed the truck down even more. There was no one else on the streets at this time of night and the people that were walking on the sidewalks paid them little mind. Dally felt his head would fly from his shoulders he spent so much time twisting every which way, needing to take in the world all around him all at once, terrified he’d miss some tiny clue or sign to where Johnny was or had been.

It was when they were passing by the mouth of an alley that Dally saw something. At first, he was certain he’d imagined it, but then he shouted to Darry, “Stop! Stop the car!” Darry immediately put his foot on the brakes, but Dallas was throwing himself out of the truck before it’d even stopped moving, flying towards the mouth of the alley, towards the converse sneaker he’d seen there, the one that looked just like Johnny’s.

Dally stopped dead at the mouth of the alley, hearing everyone who had jumped out of the truck after him coming to a stop behind him. They were all silent, staring in horror at what they saw. It wasn’t until Darry reached them and gasped, saying in a breathless voice, “Jesus,” that Dally was finally able to take in what he was seeing.

Johnny lay on the ground on his stomach, his clothes torn and covered in blood, his pants pulled down. He wore his underwear still, but they weer torn too and covered in so much blood that Dally didn’t want to imagine what might have happened to cause that. For several long moments, he thought he was dead. Then he saw him stir and he ran to him, turning him over carefully. His face wasn’t much better. He had a black eye and split lip and when he felt Dally touching him, he tried to push him away, moaning in protest. Dally wanted to cry, wondering who had done this to him, though he already knew the answer and then anger filled him as he realized the Socs would never be punished for what they had done. They weren’t last time, why would they be this time?

“Oh god,” Soda said, his voice quiet and shaking, “it almost looks like they...” But he couldn’t say the rest. He couldn’t say what everyone else was thinking. He could only press his hand to his mouth and take a shuddering breath in.

Johnny was still moaning, still trying to push Dallas away, thinking he was someone other than who he was. Dally’s heart broke in two. Why was it always Johnny that was made to suffer like this? Why was it Johnny the Socs picked on so much? Was it because he was an easy target with how sensitive he was? Or from how damaged he already was because of his parents?

“Johnny it’s me,” Dally said quietly, taking one of Johnny’s hands and holding it tight between both of his own. “It’s me, man.”

Johnny’s eyes snapped open and he saw Dallas as if for the first time, hovering over him. He was breathing heavily and Dally watched as his eyes darted around, looking from one member of the gang to the other before his eyes went back to Dally’s. He looked at him for what felt like ages, then Dally watched as if in slow motion as Johnny’s face broke and he started to sob.

“What happened, Johnny?” he asked quietly, though he already knew. “What’d they do to you?”

“I was headin’ home,” Johnny began, his voice hoarse and soft. He sounded like a little kid and this only made Dally’s heart break for him even more. “They came up behind me and-and they beat me up, but that wasn’t all they did. They...” But Johnny couldn’t say anymore than Soda could. He only took a shuddering breath like Soda had and cried more.

 _This is too far,_ Dally thought to himself, looking away, his brows drawing together as he frowned. _This is one time too many._

He lifted Johnny into his arms. He hardly weighed anything at all from how little he ate. He walked over to Darry and said, “C’mon. Let’s take him home. I’ll sit with him in the truck bed.” But once they got back to the Curtis place, once Johnny was settled, he had other plans.

This was the last time this happened.

He was going to make damn sure of it.

The ride back to the Curtis’s place was more dismal than the ride there. Two-Bit choose to sit in the truck bed again, even though there was now room for him in the cab of the car. He offered Dally his beer and Dally took it, downing three big gulps before he realized it wasn’t beer at all: it was whiskey and it burned bad as it went down. He winced, but he liked the burn. It meant he didn’t have to hurt himself for failing Johnny. Again.

Once they reached the Curtis’s house, Dally got carefully out of the truck bed, still holding Johnny in his arms. Two-Bit followed along with everyone else. Darry held the door open for Dally as he stepped into the house and set Johnny down on the couch. Johnny moaned, shielding his face from the bright living room lights and Dally turned them off and turned the TV on on mute for light instead.

As he straightened, his hands clenched into fists and he frowned, his brows drew together again and watched as Darry knelt down next to Johnny, checking his wounds before shouting to Ponyboy and Soda to grab some warm water to clean his wounds with. They returned and Darry put a warm washrag on Johnny’s head. Johnny looked unconscious and Dally couldn’t tell if he were just lying still or wasn’t awake. Either way, his stillness worried Dally and he thought of all the horrible things he was going to do the Socs once he got his hands on them.

Darry looked up at Dallas then, quite suddenly, and his own brows drew together as he said, “What are you thinkin’, Dal?”

Dally’s eyes flicked to Darry’s, able to tell from the look in them that Darry had seen something in his own eyes to ask that question. He swallowed hard and said, “I’m gonna get revenge. I ain’t gonna kill ‘em,” he added quickly when he saw Darry’s eyes widen and his mouth open. “I’m just gonna beat ‘em up. They can’t keep doin’ this to him. What happens when they go too far? What-what happens when they kill him?”

Everyone in the room was quiet for a moment, imagining that worst case scenario. Finally, Soda said, “I’ll go with you.”

“Me too,” Two-Bit replied.

“And me,” said Steve.

“I’ll go,” Ponyboy said as well.

But Darry immediately shook his head. “No, you won’t,” he replied. “You’ll stay here with me and take care of Johnnycake, okay? He needs his best friend with him right now.”

Ponyboy frowned, but to everyone’s surprise he didn’t protest.

Dally went out the door, Two-Bit, Steve, and Sodapop in tow. He stared out at the dark world around them a breeze blowing through the trees and ruffling all of their hair and clothes.

“Where are we gonna start lookin’ for ‘em?” Soda asked, standing next to Dallas.

“The drive-in,” Dally said, following some sixth sense. “That’s where they’ll be. It’s Friday.”

No one questioned him. They all seemed to agree this was the right course of action. They didn’t bother getting back into Darry’s truck. The drive-in wasn’t close, but something about driving around in their truck and looking for Socs to beat up felt too much like they were mirroring the enemy. They were greasers and if they were going to avenge their friend, they were going to do it like greasers.

“I am a greaser,” Soda started quietly as they walked down the road.

“I am a JD and a hood,” Steve continued.

“I blacken the name of our fair city,” Two-Bit went on.

“I beat up people,” Dally added, his hands clenched into fists once more. “I rob gas stations.”

“I am a menace to society,” they all said together. “And man, do I have fun!”

It was their rumble chant, their battle cry, and they said it, over and over again, until they reached the drive-in and saw the cars exiting it.

The last movie was over and it didn’t taken long before the blue Mustang drove out of the exit and they followed, keeping to the bushes, trying not to be seen. It wasn’t until it turned onto a dusty back road that they all jumped out in front of it, making the driver slam on the breaks. They knew they wouldn’t be able to make the Socs get out of the car by trying to pull them out through the windows. They had to make them come to them.

The driver’s side door opened and the Soc with the heavy rings on his fingers got out. Dally saw red, but forced himself to hold his ground as the rest of the Socs got out of the car and the leader said, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

But they didn’t reply. They didn’t give the Socs a chance to say anything else. They all rushed at them at once. There were five Socs and four of them, but that didn’t matter. They were fueled by anger, hate, and the need for revenge. Dally took on the leader and his second in command, knocking out the second with one carefully placed punch to the jaw. The leader tried to hit him in the face with a fistful of rings, but Dally dodged and grinned dangerously, hitting the Soc in the stomach repeatedly, then hitting him in the face and the ribs. He wanted to make him hurt as much as possible. He wanted him to suffer for what he’d done to Johnny.

“What the fuck?” the Soc yelled, trying to hit him back.

“You know what the fuck!” Dallas yelled back, catching his fist and throwing him back. “You touch Johnny again and we’ll kill you, you got that? _We’ll fucking kill you_! _I’ll fucking kill you_!”

To Dally’s indignation, the Soc smirked and said, “That little freak? You think we care? We know you can’t kill us! You can’t leave him alone! You can’t leave him unprotected!”

This time Dally caught him on the jaw with a punch as powerful as the one he’d dealt his second. The Soc dropped, but didn’t pass out. Dally kicked him as hard as he could between the legs and stood over him, smirking as he rolled around, clutching at his crotch. “Even if I get put in prison for killing you, it’d be worth it,” he said, kneeling down, hovering over the Soc, looking deep into his eyes, trying to find some warmth there, but finding none. “Besides, he’s got five other people to protect him. They won’t let you and your sick friends hurt him again. Not over our dead fucking bodies.”

“You’re bluffing,” the Soc said, his voice tight with pain.

Dally leaned closer still, bracing hand hand near the Soc’s head as he said, “Look into my eyes and tell me if I’m bluffin’.”

The Soc’s eyes widened and he swallowed hard.

Dally smirked again and pulled away. “That’s what a fuckin’ thought.”

He stood then to find that Steve, Soda, and Two-Bit had knocked out their opponents as well or at least reduced them to moaning messes on the ground like the Soc at his own feet. “C’mon,” he said. “Let’s go back. Johnny needs us.”

Two-Bit kicked the Soc at his feet one last time and they all headed back to the Curtis place.

“We ain’t lettin’ this happen again, you hear me?” Dallas said as they rounded a corner and disappeared into the woods near their neighborhood before the cops could find them. “Johnny’s been through enough. He ain’t gonna go through that again.”

No one said anything, but they all nodded in agreement, Dally’s original words echoing in their heads: just how many more times could Johnny go through this before his body gave out and he died?

Not one of them wanted to find out.

**Author's Note:**

> i love requests so pls if y'all have any, feel free to ask for them!! :D i have a request guidelines page linked in my profile!!
> 
> i haven't been getting as many comments lately and it's really bumming me out so please leave a comment if you read this!! thank you <3


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